Wednesday, September 05, 2012

This seems to be an extremely quick response. It is good that the FBI has this ability to instantly, absolutely, and positively guarantee that none of its thousands of laptops ever had such data and were never hacked. On the other hand, AntiSec has made false claims before...
FBI Says Laptop Wasn’t Hacked; Never Possessed File of Apple Device IDs
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is refuting a statement made by members of AntiSec this weekend that they hacked the laptop of an FBI special agent and stole a file containing 12 million Apple device IDs and associated personal information.
The FBI also said it did not possess a file containing the data the hackers said they stole.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the FBI said, “The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs was exposed. At this time there is no evidence [Kind of weasel worded. Perhaps the evidence was there yesterday, but we removed it. Bob] indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”

(Related) ...but they got these somewhere.
Hackers Release 1 Million Apple Device IDs Allegedly Stolen From FBI Laptop
… In a lengthy post online, the hackers wrote that last March, they hacked a laptop belonging to an FBI agent named Christopher K. Stangl from the bureau’s Regional Cyber Action Team and the New York FBI office’s Evidence Response Team.


“Good fences make good neighbors” Robert Frost
September 04, 2012
A Behavioural Understanding of Privacy and its Implications for Privacy Law
A Behavioural Understanding of Privacy and its Implications for Privacy Law, Kirsty Hughes, University of Cambridge, September 2012. The Modern Law Review, Vol. 75, Issue 5, pp. 806-836, 2012
  • "This article draws upon social interaction theory (the work of Irwin Altman) to develop a theory of the right to privacy, which reflects the way that privacy is experienced. This theory states that the right to privacy is a right to respect for barriers, and that an invasion of privacy occurs when a privacy barrier is penetrated. The first part of the paper establishes the position of the author's theory in the existing scholarship. The second part of the paper expands upon the theory to explain the nature of privacy barriers and the way that the author's theory manages a number of specific privacy issues, including threats to privacy, attempted invasions of privacy, unforeseeable interferences with privacy and waiving the right to privacy. The final part of the paper demonstrates the impact that this approach to privacy could have upon judicial reasoning, in particular Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights."


Zuckerberg for President? With a few minor tweeks, we could make candidate X look so much better/smarter/taller/fatter than candidate Y
September 04, 2012
Pew - Politics on Social Networking Sites
Politics on Social Networking Sites, by Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith. Sep 4, 2012: "A portion of social networking site users say the sites are important for some of their political activities and the way they decide how to engage with campaigns and issues. At the same time, most users of the sites say they do not use the sites for political purposes or debates. A nationally representative phone survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project finds that:
  • 36% of social networking site (SNS) users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in keeping up with political news.
  • 26% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in recruiting people to get involved in political issues that matter to them.
  • 25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them for debating or discussing political issues with others.
  • 25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in finding other people who share their views about important political issues."


What is “Privacy by design?”
"Networked cars — cars that can identify each other's location and prevent collisions — are coming soon, and will be a boon for safety, with one estimate having them cut accidents by 70 percent. But what happens to all the data the car will collect — about your location and driving behavior? It's worrisome that nobody seems to be thinking seriously about the privacy side of the equation."


A metaphor for security & privacy? Don't abuse my “pet computer” and I won't let my “pet computer” SPAM in your yard...
"Social robots — machines with the ability to do grocery shopping, fix dinner and discuss the day's news — may gain limited rights, similar to those granted to pets. Kate Darling, a research specialist at the MIT Media Lab, looks at this broad issue in a recent paper, 'Extending Legal Rights to Social Robots.' 'The Kantian philosophical argument for preventing cruelty to animals is that our actions towards non-humans reflect our morality — if we treat animals in inhumane ways, we become inhumane persons. This logically extends to the treatment of robotic companions. Granting them protection may encourage us and our children to behave in a way that we generally regard as morally correct, or at least in a way that makes our cohabitation more agreeable or efficient.' If a company can make a robot that leaves the factory with rights, the marketing potential, as Darling notes, may be significant."


How drunk? “One beer” drunk? “A shot and a beer” drunk? “Too drunk to drive” drunk? “So drunk I might vote Democrat” drunk?
Infrared-Camera Algorithm Could Scan for Drunks in Public
Computer scientists have published a paper detailing how two algorithms could be used in conjunction with thermal imaging to scan for inebriated people in public places.
… alcohol causes blood-vessel dilation at the skin’s surface, so by using this principle as a starting point the two began to compare data gathered from thermal-imaging scans. One algorithm compares a database of these facial scans of drunk and sober individuals against pixel values from different sites on a subject’s face. A similar method has been used in the past to detect infections, such as SARS, at airports — though a study carried out at the time of the 2003 outbreak warned, “although the use of infrared instruments to measure body surface temperatures has many advantages, there are human, environmental, and equipment variables that can affect the accuracy of collected data.”


For my Website students. Well, what excuse do you have now?
Estonia Reprograms First Graders as Web Coders
Public schools in Estonia will soon have a curriculum for teaching web and mobile application development to students as early as first grade.
According to an article published by UbuntuLife, the program begins this month with training for primary-school teachers. This will be followed by pilot programs. Eventually, the curriculum will be available to all public schools, with educational materials for all levels from grades 1 through 12.


For all my students
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Evernote is currently my favorite service for note-taking and bookmarking. I have Evernote installed on my iPad, my Android Tablets, my phone, my computers, and I have the Evernote web clipper installed in all of my browsers. Because of Evernote's versatility I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good note-taking and bookmarking tool. One question that I often hear from first-time Evernote users is, there's so many options, where do I start? Make Use Of has just released a new guide that will answer that question and many more.
How To Use Evernote, The Missing Manual is a free 34 page guide to using Evernote. The guide will help you use Evernote in your web browser, on your iPad, on your Android tablet, on your phone, and on your desktop. The guide is available to download as a PDF or EPub.

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